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Rachel Aviv

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In The New York Times Book Review last year, Curtis Sittenfeld wrote that labeling a book chick lit is like calling a woman a slut. The genre is too easy; there's no challenge, she argued. This Is Not Chick Lit, a collection of stories by "America...

Ken Jennings, a software engineer who won 74 games in a row on Jeopardy!, is well aware of the limits of trivia. During his 2004 winning streak, the longest in the show's history, he'd give his answers tentatively, as if he had no idea what was co...

Ronald Hoeflin talks about IQ tests the way some people talk about cars. With perfect recall, he reels off stats and special features, the advantages of one model over another. He speaks softly and rapidly, pointing out the "beautiful, elegant" sh...

Rich LeFevre, a 62-year-old retired accountant, is a champion eater of watermelon, cake, doughnuts, corn dogs, and huevos rancheros. His wife, Carlene, a slim substitute teacher with an immense appetite, joins him at competitions all over the coun...

"I'm starting a magazine for idiosyncratic writing, poetry and fiction that is not easily categorizable in terms of camps of schools of thought and which therefore is unappealing to the current market place," wrote Rebecca Wolff, the editor of Fen...

"We need a place where gay couples can come and chat about their graduate degrees," says a middle-aged man, drinking in the backyard of Dragon Lounge in Cobble Hill. Better known for its Middle Eastern food than its dance scene, the area has seen ...